In addition to navigating their newfound responsibilities of independent living and sense of freedom away from conservative social norms embedded within their home countries, Asian ISgbMSM are also faced with learning how to navigate and explore their own sexuality within the context of a new country. According to our project, participants generally reported that they were more likely to disclose and be open about their sexuality to their peers here in Canada as opposed to peers in their home countries. However, regardless of the geography, participants reported that they were less likely to disclose their sexuality to their families. These findings not only corroborate the idea that Canada is perceived as a more accepting country (compared to their home countries), possibly making it easier to be open about one’s sexuality, but it also highlights the influence of stigmas and gender norms that are imposed upon East and Southeast Asian ISgbMSM (e.g. duty to family), which compounds the often intertwined stigmas related to sexuality and HIV, exacerbating their HIV-related risk(21,26–28). “...in Korea it’s much much harder to get information. [...] Fake news or rumours. So when you search for HIV AIDS in a Korean research website the first thing you see would be gay people end up dying with HIV. That sort of thing. [...] it's not even sexual education, like their behaviour. It's kind of funny, some friend, some Korean international student friends here, doesn't like to hold hands with his boyfriend in public. He just say he can't. [...] the friends that are reluctant to hold hands with his partner are very afraid of HIV, but he never went to the clinic before I took him [with] me.” - ISgbMSM from South Korea, age 23 Many of the younger ISgbMSM participants reported being dependent on their families for financial support. Therefore, the fear of disclosing one’s sexuality could also be compounded by the potential financial repercussions that may arise due to potential family fallout, in addition to the cultural pressures to avoid ‘burdening’ or ‘shaming’ the family(27,28). Asian ISgbMSM face many socio-cultural norms and structural factors that may limit their access to comprehensive HIV knowledge and deter them from accessing more information. Our interview participants shared how their own HIV and safer sex knowledge was limited when they first arrived in Toronto.
ACAS2019/2020 ANNUAL REPORT
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